"In the echo chamber that is presidential politics, everything is
dark and everything is terrible," he added. "They don't seem
to offer many solutions for the disasters that they perceive. But
they're quick to tell you who to blame. I'm here to say that
there is nothing particularly patriotic or American about talking
down America."

Obama did have some similarly vague praise for one aspect of
Trump's campaign, however.

The president wants to end the so-called "carried-interest
loophole" in the US tax code, which benefits private equity and
hedge funds. He noted that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R)
recently proposed
raising taxes on carried interest, while Trump has
lamented that hedge fund managers are "getting
away with murder."

"You've got two leading candidates on the Republican side who
have said that we should eliminate the carried-interest loophole.
Now, there's disagreement in this room around that," Obama told
business leaders Wednesday.

"But I will tell you," he continued, "that keeping this tax
loophole — which leads to folks who are doing very well paying
lower rates than their secretaries — is not in any demonstrable
way improving our economy."